The Mind Is A Fragile Thing
by Rubika-Chan
Summary: After the tag duel with Yubel, Jaden manages to pull Jesse through the portal. But as a penalty, Yubel destroys Jesse's mind. Despite the slim chance of recovery, Jaden will try as hard as he can to heal his friend. A recovery Spiritshipping story
1. Chapter 1

_Ok, I should be updating "To Protect What's Precious", but this Idea's been floating around my head for a while so I figured I'd give it a shot! Oh what the hands write before a turkey coma…_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*TheMindIsAFragileThing~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

**The Mind is a Fragile Thing**

**Chapter One**

Yubel glared across the arena at that boy. That hateful boy that succeeded yet again from separating her from HER Jaden. Well this was the last time!

As the boy was looking up at that cursed Dragon opening the portal, Yubel made her move. Jesse gave a choked cry as he felt a clawed hand clasp around his throat. He looked up into enraged turquoise-amber eyes.

"You! This is your fault! You took my Jaden away from me!" She screamed. The bluenette shook his head, squirming futilely in her grasp. Yubel was distracted by a painfully familiar voice.

"Jesse! Hang on!" She looked over to see none other than Jaden, struggling against the portal's force, ignoring the cries of his friends to make his way over to Jesse. "I won't leave you here, Jesse!"

"J…Jaden…" The boy in her claws gasped out, still keeping up his useless struggling. Yubel's grip didn't budge. Jesse's face broke into a nervous sweat as his captor's lips twisted into a smirk, catching a small glimpse of her fangs. This couldn't be good…

"I know just what to do…" Yubel's free hand moved to the top of Jesse's head, tangling her fingers in his messy teal hair.

"Yubel!" Jaden cried, "Let him go!" He was closer now, struggling against the pull of the portal with all his might. There wasn't much time.

"I will give Jaden a message… and show him the true meaning of pain…" Her grin was boarderlining insanity and Jesse struggled harder. Jaden was only ten feet away.

Seven feet.

"After all…" Yubel's grip on his hair tightened. "That's the best way to show him the extent of my love…"

Six feet. the wind from the portal was strengthening. He had to make it to Jesse in time.

Five feet.

Yubel's hand glowed with a harsh orange light and Jesse felt as though a thousand red-hot needles were piercing into his skull. He screamed in pain.

"Jesse!"

Four feet.

The European in her grasp jerked and thrashed, but she kept hold of him with ease, his shrieks like music to her ears. After all, his pain was Jaden's pain. And when she was done, it would prove to her brunette that his love for the boy, whether he realized it or now, was nothing compared to her love for him.

Three feet. The portal began to close. Time was up.

The boy fell limp in her claws as her hand ceased it's glowing. She smirked. It worked.

Two feet.

Before Jaden could take another step, Yubel startled him by throwing her captive at him, Jesse colliding with him, causing him to lose his stance. The portal sucking them in. the Slifer quickly grabbed a hold of his friend to prevent them being separated again. He didn't know what Yubel did, but he wasn't giving her a chance to do anything more!

He pulled his friend close to his chest as the portal sucked them in, one hand holding Jesse's head to his chest, the other around his slim waist, securing his grip. The last thing the brown-eyed teen heard was Yubel's insane cackle, her gaze piercing through him as they were engulfed by the portal.

They were going home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*(Scene Change)~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Someone was shaking him. Jaden groaned slightly as he opened his eyes, unaware when he had fallen into unconsciousness.

"Jaden!" Nurse Fontaine stood over him as he lay in the grass… wait, grass? Jaden sat up and looked around. The sea was back, the sand was gone, and the single sun shone brightly in the monster-free sky. They were home.

"Home!"

"We're home!"

The students were cheering, celebrating the end of their imprisonment in that alternate dimension. Hassleberry currently had Syrus in a big bear hug, relieved his upperclassman was alive and well after the "Duel-Zombie" situation.

Jaden's thoughts drifted from his two best friends to his new best friend. Those last few moments before they were sucked into the portal… had he succeeded? Or was it all a dream while he was knocked unconscious? In a panic, Jaden whipped his head around, searching for his blue-haired companion. Something shifting I his lap snapped his gaze down. He sighed in relief when he spotted the North Academy transfer student still curled up against him, alive and breathing. It wasn't a dream.

Jaden gently moved some hair out of Jesse's face as the bluenette opened his eyes.

"You awake Jess? We made it… we're back home." Jesse looked up at him, and Jaden knew instantly that something was wrong. Jesse's gaze was unfocused, and he stared up at him as though he didn't recognize him. "Jesse?"

Said European sat up against Jaden and looked around, bewildered. Something was definitely wrong.

"Jesse?"

"Dirty…" Jesse spoke softly. More to himself as though Jaden wasn't there. His green eyes fell down to look at himself and he frowned. "Dirty and… all over me…" His voice grew more and more distressed. "Dirty… dirty… dirty…"

Jaden's eyes widened in alarm as the confused bluenette began brushing at his shirt and arms, as though trying to brush something off. Whatever he was seeing wasn't going away and his motions become more and more frantic, beginning to claw at himself.

"Jesse, stop!" Jaden cried, grabbing a hold of Jesse's wrists. "What's wrong with you?"

"No!" The blue-haired teenager recoiled, struggling weakly in Jaden's grip. "No! Bad! They say… the trees say they hear the sirens burn!"

Jaden blinked. He hadn't a clue what Jesse had just said. "Jesse, what are you talking about?" But the other didn't seem to notice him as he curled into himself and continued to babble.

The brunette's mind snapped back to when Yubel had Jesse in her claws, him screaming, her hand glowing… He hadn't noticed the tears building in his eyes until they slid down his cheeks and fell into Jesse's hair.

"Jesse…" Jaden let go of his emotions and pulled Jesse's shaking form against himself, doing his best not to cry and distress the bluenette further.

"Oh god, Jesse what did she do to you?"

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_Ok, I should warn you now this MAY be a strange story. What happened to Jesse will be revealed in the next chapter, if you haven't figured it out yet._

_Please tell me what you think!_

_Till next time!_


	2. Chapter 2

I'm glad you guys like this story!

Well here's chapter two!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

**The Mind is a Fragile Thing**

**Chapter 2**

Nurse Fontaine sighed sadly, pulling her stethoscope back around her neck. Jesse was currently sitting on the examination table in front of her, with Jaden beside him.

"Well, Ms. Fontaine?" The nurse turned to the anxious brunette. Jaden had come into her office with the European transfer in a panic, begging her to fix the blue-haired teen.

"I'm sorry, Jaden. But all of his vitals and reflexes are fine; I can't find anything physically wrong with him."

"But there is something wrong with him!" Jaden cried. In alarm, the bluenette began to whimper and tried to pull away from Jaden. Fontaine made a shushing noise and gestured to Jaden to calm down.

"I said physically, Jaden. I agree there is something seriously wrong, but whatever it is appears to by psychological…. I'm just a school nurse, Jaden! I'm not trained to deal with this sort of situation!"

Jaden hung his head. "Sorry, Ms. Fontaine…" He took Jesse's hand in his own, calming the blue-haired student slightly. "So what should we do?"

"I'll call over to Domino Hospital… maybe they'll send someone over to take a look at him." With that, the nurse went into her office to phone the hospital. Jaden looked over at Jesse, who had been looking curiously around the room. He gently touched the side of the other's face to get his attention.

"We'll get you back, Jess… Ok?" Jaden spoke softly. Jesse stared at him, as though trying to comprehend what he was saying. After a few minutes Jesse smiled widely at him, and Jaden's heart rose hopefully.

"They kill mice."

His heart fell again. Jesse obviously didn't understand. Jaden forced a smile on his face and ruffled Jesse's hair. "That's right, Jess…" He looked up as Ms. Fontaine came back in the room. "Well?"

"I explained what happened. And they can't offer any explanations off what I told them, and I can't give them the full details because from what you described to me, it sounds like this was caused by unnatural means. They wouldn't believe me!" She sounded so distressed that Jaden bit back the comment he was preparing and listened as the nurse finished. "They said it didn't sound like there was any hope of recovery…" Jaden looked sadly at his feet, not wanting to look at either the nurse or Jesse. This wasn't fair! What had Jesse done to deserve this? He was interrupted from his thoughts when the door opened and his other friends came in.

"Sarge! What are you doing in here?" Hassleberry asked. "Why aren't you at any of the celebrations?"

"Yeah! You're not hurt are you?" Syrus questioned. Jaden couldn't muster the energy to answer the two Ra duelists fawning over him. He glanced up when Alexis came over, looking concerned.

"Is it Jesse?"

Syrus and Hassleberry both ceased their fussing over Jaden and turned to look at Jesse, realizing he had been there the whole time.

"What's up with him?" Hassleberry asked. He tried to look Jesse in the eyes, but whenever he moved, the smaller teen would turn his head away and stare intensively at something else. "Hey! Don't ignore me!" The solider wanna-be snapped, taking hold of the bluenette's arm. Jesse began whining and kicking at Hassleberry.

"No! Don't be that kind of barn owl!" He managed to nail a kick on Hassleberry's arm. Said solider yowled in pain and pulled back.

"Jesse, no!" Jaden cried, pulling Jesse against him and holding him close again. This appeared to calm him down and he stopped kicking.

"Well we do have a problem here, don't we?" Came a familiar German accent. Jaden, Syrus, and Hassleberry all looked up to see Dr. Eisenstein come into the room with Bastian. The professor had come back from his labs when Duel Academy had been sucked into the alternative dimension. In fact, he had been the one that formulated the plan that got Jesse's Rainbow Dragon to him and got them all home. Maybe he could help Jesse! Bastian came over to Jaden.

"I heard what happened. We think we might have a better grasp on what happened to Jesse, since we took part in the whole inter-dimensional portal fiasco." Jaden perked slightly at this.

"So you think he can go back to normal?"

"Hold on, boy." Eisenstein said. "Let's figure out what happened first… may I talk to Jesse for a moment?"

"Huh?" Jaden looked a bit startled. "Oh… oh, ok…" He glanced at Jesse, whom was tugging at Eisenstein's hair. "Can I come with him?" But the doctor shook his head.

"I'd like to see him alone. It would be easier for me to evaluate him when he's on his own." With that, Dr. Eisenstein helped Nurse Fontaine ease Jesse into a nearby wheelchair Fontaine had ready. Seeing Jaden's worried look, Ms. Fontaine explained.

"The way he is now it would be easier to wheel him around in the wheelchair. We don't want him running off and hurting himself. It's at least just for today." The two adults finished setting Jesse in the wheelchair when the bluenette started squirming.

"Don't! Please don't with that treachery!" Jaden could only watch as they took Jesse into the other room. When the door closed Jaden could no longer hear them. He felt terrible to admit it, but he didn't want to listen to the other like this. He hated seeing Jesse like this. He could feel the tears building up in his eyes again but he held them down. Syrus and Hassleberry were still in the room.

"Don't worry, Jay…" Syrus spoke ainxiously, "He'll get better…"

"Yeah!" Hassleberry supported. "If the Doc could figure out a way to transport the school between dimensions, he can figure out a way to fix what happened to Jesse!"

Jaden just sighed. "Thanks guys… but I kind of want to just be alone right now…" The two nodded in understanding and left. The brunette waited outside for Eisenstein to come out, and jumped to his feet when he did, followed by Bastian. "Well? What do you think? What's wrong with him? Can he get better?" The German Doctor held up his hand to silence Jaden.

"Calm down. You may want to sit, Bastian and I will explain what we think happened." Eisenstein nodded to Bastian who sat down next to Jaden.

"You see Jaden, from what we've concluded and from what you've told us, we believe Yubel has completely destroyed Jesse's mind." Jaden opened his mouth to speak, but Bastian continued, effectively making the Slifer listen. "Dr. Eisenstein believes that the human mind is connected by a form of energy, and that binding, so to speak, enables our advanced cognitive abilities." He saw Jaden looking at him like he had two heads. "Anyways, we believe Yubel broke those bindings and drained the energy holding Jesse's mind together. And that's why he's like this."

Jaden's eyes widened. "So… you're saying he's insane?"

"Precisely."

"Well can it be fixed?"

Dr. Eisenstein spoke up. "Medically speaking, no. But!" He interjected, seeing the brunette's crestfallen expression. "As this is not a medical matter, I believe there is a way. Now listen, the human mind's natural state is to be binded. And the way Jesse's was broken was an unnatural way. So, should our theory be correct then with some help it just might go back to the way it was!"

Jaden's face broke into the first real smile since discovering Jesse's mental state. "So we can bring him back to the way he was?" The doctor nodded and Jaden cheered in glee, rushing to Jesse's side. "You hear that, Jess? We can fix you! I'll do anything it takes!" Bastian chuckled, but Eisenstein looked serious.

"You do realize, Jaden, that this is simply in theory. And the chance of me being right is frighteningly low." He looked Jaden in the eye. "If you're prepared to take care of Jesse yourself, I must warn you that it will be hard on you. You're likely not going to be getting much sleep."

Jaden shrugged, still smiling. "Ah, who needs sleep anyways?" Jesse decided to voice his opinion of the situation.

"I told the cat. And now I beg my mother sitting all alone…" Jesse's vacant expression was like a knife to Jaden's heart. But he knew that even if there was the slightest chance of recovery, he would do whatever it took to reach that. And he meant it.

**To Be Continued…**

Phew. That took longer to write then I thought. I hope the end didn't seem too rushed.

I'm stealing some crazy phrases but most of them will be my own. It's harder then it looks!

They'll be trying to get Jesse settled next chapter. And he will be very OOC due to his insanity. However, he will go back in character as he recovers.

Tell me what you think?

Well till next time!


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